the vampire diaries fanfic writing tips

✧ reactions to learning about the supernatural

if your oc is not aware of the existence of supernatural creatures, you'll have to write how they react.

there will be a few things you'll want to consider in writing this.

how do they find out? are they gently told by a friend? does something happen directly in front of them and then someone explains it to them?

that might influence how they react.

for example, it being explained to them by someone they trust might lead them to have a more calm and restrained reaction. but if they find out because their vampire boyfriend loses control or some enemy of their friends attacks them, they might be a little bit more afraid and worried.

so you should decide what the best way is for your oc to find out to get their immediate reaction.

i believe there's a few different ways their reaction could go.

1. they are afraid. they run away, maybe stay away for a while, maybe are really jumpy/anxious.

very likely for the average person i would say.

now they could stay afraid of supernatural and completely stay away. but then you probably won't have much of a story if that's the reaction of your oc. so they'll probably have to come around (i'll get to that later).

2. they're excited. maybe it doesn't bother them at all. they're intrigued. they have questions, they want to know more, they think it's cool.

3. they're unsure, a little hesitant. they aren't exactly afraid, but they aren't completely cool with it. they might need some time to get used to it. they might need some reassurance.

but in these reactions there are a few things you want to think about.

1. who is your oc? what are they like?

their personality, interests, and life in general will play a strong role in how they react.

for example, my oc felt more safe around vampires than before. why? because she lost a lot of people and was hurt by a lot of people so when she learns her new family (the mikaelsons) are immortal and can actually follow through on their promises of keeping her safe, she feels relieved.

but her initial reaction is fear. without going into too much detail in case you want to read, she finds out because she witnesses that scene at the end of season three where alaric hurts caroline and traps them in the school. she also sees damon snap kol's neck. so she's terrified. she pushes kol and caroline away at first, but then she realizes that the people who she's supposed to be afraid of are actually the ones who love and protect her while the people who she's supposed to trust are the ones that hurt her.

my other oc is intrigued. she's into science, she thinks that it's cool, but that's when she's watching it from a distance. once she gets involved, she's a little bit more fearful.

and this is something that i think is really important.

do they know about the supernatural or do they experience it?

they're both very different.

for example, think about when elena sees stefan's vampire face. she touches his face, i think she kisses him, and tells him not to hide i think. that was a calm setting for them. they were alone and together, they weren't in any danger.

go forward a few episodes when elena sees stefan feeding. i think it's the episode where the miss mystic falls thing happens.

look at her face when she reacts. she's afraid now.

now a little while later she thinks it through and goes back to stefan and refuses to leave him when he's upset and then wants to help him.

so in each situation, there's a different reaction.

another example is kol and davina.

i notice a lot of people say that davina's hypocritical because she doesn't like the rest of the mikaelsons but likes kol.

but i think there's something a lot of people forget.

davina never saw kol do anything that bad.

he was a witch when he came back. he wasn't a vampire, he was much weaker, focused on davina, and had stuff to do so he wasn't going around being the dangerous vampire that everyone thought he was.

then when he becomes a vampire, he's in love and being all nice for her.

i don't think she's a hypocrite for that, i think she just never saw kol do the same things that the mikaelsons did. she also didn't see him do anything against her or the people she loves.

if davina had, i think it would've thrown a bit of a problem into their relationship. but she didn't see that side of him. so i think it makes sense.

got a little off topic there, i apologize.

i just mean that you should consider what it means to know about supernatural creatures and what it means to actually see it.